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Pere Marquette-White weekend fly fishing trip
57 waters in the Pere Marquette-White watershed, Michigan, have a page here, the largest of them Pere Marquette River, South Branch White River and Big Sable River. May, June and July carry the most recorded hatches, 19 insects in May, 26 insects in June and 24 insects in July. In range: 8 blocks of public land with a page of their own, 8 state-forest campgrounds and 8 fly shops. Everything below is measured or published — no ranking on this page is ours.
The water
Ordered by mapped length. July mean is measured at the USGS gauges standing in each river; a dash means no gauge on it reports temperature.
A 3-day plan
Pere Marquette River
Nearest listed access: Tallman Lake (boat launch), 2.4 mi, or Ford Lake (boat launch), 3.0 mi.
South Branch White River
Nearest listed access: Robinson Lake (boat launch), 4.1 mi, or Diamond Lake (boat launch), 4.9 mi.
Big Sable River
Nearest listed access: Gun Lake (boat launch), 2.7 mi, or Ford Lake (boat launch), 5.7 mi.
Assembled, not written: the days are the largest waters in range, longest first, and each one carries the nearest site in Michigan's own access file — measured from the middle of the water, so it is a place to start looking rather than a landing on that river. Fish them in whatever order the weather gives you.
Hatches to hit
The months with the most recorded hatches in northern lower Michigan: May (19), June (26), July (24).
| Insect | Months | Hook |
|---|---|---|
| Fish Eggs | October–January and April | #10–16 |
| Little Black Stonefly | January–April | #16–18 |
| Little Brown Stonefly | February–April | #12–16 |
| Blue-Winged Olive | March–May and September–November | #16–22 |
| Blackfly | April–June | #18–22 |
| Blue Quill | April–May | #16–18 |
| Cranefly | April–June and September–October | #6–10 |
| Grannom | April–May | #14–16 |
| Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie | April–June and September–October | #10–14 |
| Hendrickson | April–May | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis | April–May | #16–20 |
| Alderfly | May–June | #10–14 |
| Caterpillar | May–September | #8–14 |
| Crayfish | May–October | #4–8 |
Recorded from northern lower Michigan, earliest first. The year-round records sit at the bottom because they are true and they are not news.
Public land in range
- White, Michigan Wild And Scenic River Study Area — 1.8 mi
- Manistee National Forest-White Cloud Unit — 7.3 mi
- Manistee National Forest — 14.7 mi
- Newaygo Experimental Forest — 16.6 mi
- Owasippe Scout Reservation — 17.0 mi
- Hungerford Lake Recreation Area — 19.0 mi
- Hart-Montague Bicycle Trail Park — 19.7 mi
- Newaygo State Park (leased from Consumer's Energy) — 21.1 mi
Blocks of ground with a page of their own, nearest first. Ownership from PAD-US as Michigan publishes it.
Camping and lodging
| Campground | Distance | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Minnie Pond Campground (fee) | 4.6 mi | USFS |
| Benton Lake Campground (fee) | 6.5 mi | USFS |
| Pines Point (fee) | 8.5 mi | USFS |
| Nichols Lake South Campground (fee) | 8.9 mi | USFS |
| Indian Lake Campground (fee) | 9.3 mi | USFS |
| Walkup Lake Campground (fee) | 9.6 mi | USFS |
| Condon Lakes West (fee) | 11.2 mi | USFS |
| Shelley Lake Campground (fee) | 11.4 mi | USFS |
State-forest and state-park campgrounds from Michigan's own file. This site holds no hotel or motel data and does not pretend to: what it can tell you is where the public ground is.
Fly shops
- Parsley's Sport Shop — 16.1 mi, Newaygo
- Pere Marquette River Lodge — 20.0 mi, Baldwin
- Baldwin Bait & Tackle — 21.1 mi, Baldwin
- Ed's Sport Shop — 21.2 mi, Baldwin
- Johnson's Pere Marquette Lodge — 21.7 mi, Baldwin
- Shoreline Service — 31.2 mi
- Schmidt Outfitters — 41.9 mi, Wellston
- Brenners Sporting Goods — 42.0 mi, Comstock Park
From OpenStreetMap and a curated list, across all five states on this site. Call before you drive — a shop in a file is not a shop that is open.
Before you go
- Michigan regulations
- Michigan fishing report
- Pere Marquette-White watershed
- Pere Marquette River
- South Branch White River
- Big Sable River
- Little South Branch Pere Marquette River
- Middle Branch Pere Marquette River
- Sanborn Creek